


Faith

by KillroyWasHere



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Fire Emblem: Three Houses Black Eagles Route, Fire Emblem: Three Houses Spoilers, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-19
Updated: 2019-10-19
Packaged: 2020-12-24 08:50:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,625
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21096737
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KillroyWasHere/pseuds/KillroyWasHere
Summary: War has come and Edelgard chose to fight this war alone but will her friends let her?





	Faith

**Author's Note:**

> I always found it weird that Edelgard tried to kill her own House and professor and everyone brushed it off once they were preparing for the assault on the monastery. So I've decided to go ahead and share my own thoughts at what happened after the fact. This is the first story I've written about Three Houses and the first story I'm publishing here so any feedback is appreciated. I want to grow as a writer so feel free to be as harsh as you want.

“Why didn’t you tell us? Why did you…. Why did you try to take on the world by yourself?” Tears were forming in her eyes, Byleth fought desperately to fight them down. She needed answers, closure of some kind. The hastily constructed fortress was brimming with life, people running around asking the same question as her, what the hell is happening.

“I…. I didn’t think any of you would follow me…. This was my burden, I have to walk it alone. I don’t want…. I didn’t want to lose more family…” Edelgard couldn’t bear to look at Byleth. She could still feel her eyes gazing into her soul.

“Edelgard…. That isn’t your choice to make.” Byleth tried to stay calm but the rising anger betrayed her. “You can’t force us to leave you, you can’t push us away! We are family! We care for each other, we promised never to abandon one another!” Byleth strided towards Edelgard who retreated in kind. That is until the wall served as a damning obstacle.

"You don’t understand! I didn’t want to see any of you suffer because of me! I didn’t want to see you fall one by one as you trudged beside me. I didn’t want to see you fall to the horrors of war I brought onto the world. I’ve plunged the world into chaos! Who would follow me as I burned the world to the ground?” Her voice was cracking, her composure breaking.

“Edelgard! We promised you that we would follow you no matter what,” Byleth yelled back. “Look out there! Look and see how many followed you here!” The courtyard was filled with students and soldiers, chief among them her own housemates just hours from fighting Edelgard in the tomb. Even students from the other houses were found mingling among each other asking why they joined. “They didn’t come here on a whim, they didn’t follow you ‘cause they were scared or lost! They followed you here because they believed in you! You, Edelgard! What will it take for you to trust us?”

Edelgard stayed silent, her head hung low. “I don’t know…” Her words barely audible, however, they still crushed Byleth with their weight. She bolted from the room, tears breaking through her best defenses. Her strong composure and stern face were gone replaced with despair and pain. Edelgard slumped down the wall and stared at the ceiling.

“That could have gone better.” From the corner of the room, Hubert emerged offering a handkerchief to his charge. “Come now Edelgard, this is unbecoming of the Emperor.” His hand was batted away from the sulking mess.

“Now is not the time for your dry wit Hubert.” Her words we quiet, yet they still carried the vitreal to cause Hubert a moment of pause. Very rarely did he see Edelgard in such a state. However, each time he had seen it, it was a sign that she had been wounded deeply.

“Edelgard, it is time to address the people. State your plans.” Normally, he would try to comfort her and bring her out of her rut. However these are not normal times, they had a war to fight, each second more valuable than the last. The Empire needed their Emperor or else all their sacrifices will be for naught.

“Of course.” Edelgard stood and wiped her tears, composing herself once more. “We have a war to win.”

* * *

“Damnit, damnit all to the deepest part of hell!” Byleth screamed as she ran through the courtyard, eyes bore into her and yet she couldn’t feel their penetrating gaze. Her mind was racked with anger and sorrow, interesting companions for the miserable. Hands grasped her shoulders, ripping her from her isolated hell.

“Byleth, what happened in there?” Dorothea stared into her green eyes. The rest of her students stood behind Dorothea waiting for an answer. One that she did not feel right to give.

  
“Why did Edelgard try to kill us? Why would she do that,” Caspar demanded. Others piled in, overwhelming the professor. She couldn’t bear the questions and collapsed on her knees, bringing a brief halt to the questions. Only for them to be replaced with questions about her own health.

  
“Edelgard…. couldn’t trust us….” She whimpered. Silence fell upon the group, each feeling the same pain, the same anguish. The person whom they all looked towards to lead them, guide them to a better world had left them. Abandoned them without a second thought.

  
“What do we do now?” Ferdinand spoke first, his cheery demeanor gone. They all glanced at one another, unable or unwilling to look at each other in the eye.

  
“We can’t leave her, can we? I-I mean we promised her we would be there for her.” Bernadetta piped up. “We can’t just give up, can we? C-can we?” No one answered as they stood in silence.

  
“No… this isn’t how this ends,” something was boiling inside of Byleth. Her anger and sorrow bringing life to a new feeling, determination. She rose off the floor and locked eyes with those that had the will to look at her. “Bernie is right. We promised Edelgard that we would never abandon her, that we would never betray her. We forfeited our lives and placed our entire being in her hands. She decided that she couldn’t bear the thought of us going back on our word and tried to cast us aside, to protect her own heart. But we still draw breath, we still have a chance to keep our promise. A chance to show Edelgard that she does not have to bear the weight of the world alone. A chance to prove that we are willing to follow her to the gates of hell itself.” As she gazed at her students, all she saw was solemn determined faces.

  
“What must we do?”

  
“I have a plan but it's going to risk our lives. Are there any that would like to back out now?” Not one soul wavered in the crowd. A hint of pride showed on Byleth’s face. “Alright then, here’s the plan."

* * *

Edelgard stared at herself in the mirror. Her speech went off without a hitch, her soldiers were rallied, the doubts were crushed. Her war was just, her reasoning sound, and all that were present were ready to lay down their lives for her and yet her heart ached. Her house wasn’t there, along with the other students. She got her wish and it still hurt. She resolved herself thinking it was better this way, they would be out of harm's way. A knock at the door broke her concentration.

  
“Come in Hubert,” the door creaked open as Edelgard continued to look in the mirror trying to snuff out any sense of pain. Then she heard it, multiple sets of footsteps. She turned around in a flash and saw them, her former housemates and professor, weapons in hand. She lunged for her axe and wielded it towards them, her grip tightening. Before she could say a word, in unison they all knelt before her laying their weapons before her. She was in a state, not sure whether to be scared or ecstatic to see them again. Her grip on the axe held firm.

  
“Edelgard,” Byleth started. “We swore to you our loyalty, our servitude, our undying support and if need be our lives. And yet there is still doubt in your heart, there is still mistrust, there is still pain. You’ve hardened your heart, steeled your soul. You march down a path of isolation in an attempt to spare yourself from the horrors of the world. But Edelgard, you’ve achieved the opposite of what you wanted. You’ve abandoned us, you’ve hurt us, you’ve damned us. Before us we have two paths we must tread now: death or turning our backs on you forever. We’ve decided that we cannot choose from these options, so here we are to beg. Allow us to walk alongside you or grant us our escape from the roads we must travel.” Byleth looked at Edelgard with a stoney look, she had laid everything on the line; her last gambit. If she lost, it wouldn't matter, life without Edelgard wouldn't be worth living.

  
Edelgard could only stare at the mass congregated at her feet, begging for servitude or death. She hand shook, her grip tightened until the pain became too much. They had said if she refused them, they would betray her but they would prefer death to that. Her mind was racing trying to figure out what should be done, all the while they waited in silence, a grim resolve on their faces. Finally, her grip loosened and the axe was raised with grace.

  
"So you have made your choice," Byleth sighed. She closed her eyes and lowered her head, waiting for the end to come. After a few moments, the axe dug into her skin and pain burned through her, however, the pain kept going. Her breath still came and her head was still attached. Only when the sound of the axe clattering on the ground did she open her eyes again. And there she sat, the emperor of the great Adrestian Empire sobbing.

  
There before them bawled the true Edelgard, a child wanting so desperately to love and be loved and yet afraid of it all the same. A little girl beaten and battered by the world she had to harden her soul to survive, forced to mature far too soon. The love and respect she received at the monastery breathed new life into her and killed her all the same. She thought, no knew that fate would never allow her to have the one thing she wanted so desperately; a family to call her own.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading. I wish you the best in your future endeavors.


End file.
